3 of Claridon Township’s places are on the National Register
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns · #402 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Caledonia Bowstring Bridge. Most of Claridon Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1903 on, and old-book passages.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Claridon Township is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #402 of 993 in Ohio. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Claridon Township’s overall grade.
Ohio towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Ohio town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Claridon Township’s 45.7 sits above most of its state (88% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 13 historic buildings outnumber those of 77% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.1 points).
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Claridon Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Underwoods
1842–1866
Adelaide
1887–1905
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BeechClaridonCrystal LakesHighlands of MarionWood Valley
Gone or out of use
Claridon Post Officepost officeDavis SchoolschoolEgypt SchoolschoolGable SchoolschoolMarion Engineer DepotmilitaryRussell Schoolschool
12cemeteries and burying grounds inside Claridon Township
CaledoniaCaledoniaClaridonHindsLawrenceLutheranPlotnerSalemThewUnderwoodWilliamsonZiller Family
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Claridon Township on the map, 1903 to 1982
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Claridon Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1903Marion sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Claridon Township.
The story so far
Claridon Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Claridon Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Claridon Township is one of the fifteen townships of Marion County, Ohio, United States. The 2020 census found 2,777 people in the township, 560 of whom lived in the village of Caledonia.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,742 in 2010, 2,777 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Claridon Township in 1883
Passages that mention Claridon Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
the history of marion county ohio1883 · page 691Read the page →
Read the text
County, Ohio. i i This day came S. C. Parcel, James Bell and others, and presented their petition to the County Commissioners in the words and figures following: ‘‘To the Commissioners of Marion County: We, the undersigned residents of Claridon Township, pray your honorable body that you will take one tier of sections from off the north side of Claridon Township and attach it to Scott Township, which will make them of equal dimensions; Claridon Township is six miles square, and Scott Township is four by six only. Your humble petitioners. January 31, 1851."
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the history of marion county ohio1883 · page 971Read the page →
Read the text
The matter was duly appealed to the Court of Common Pleas and there reviewed by that tribunal, the Commissioners’ proceedings reversed and the territory restored to Claridon Township. But the subject of the division of Claridon Township, for the purpose of augmenting or enlarging the terri. tory of Scott was not permitted to rest long; for at the March session of the Commissioners in the year 1851, another effort was made to have the same territory set off to Scott Township, as will appear from the following entry taken from the record:
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Claridon Township, 1842 to 1905
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Claridon Township is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #402 of 993 in Ohio. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Claridon Township?
3 listings: 1 structure. 13 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Claridon Township?
9% of Claridon Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1993.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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2015
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